Euro 2012 Host Cities – Warsaw, Poland
With the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship currently under way we shall be focusing our attention on the host cities for the next couple of days, and we’ll start with Poland’s capital, Warsaw.
Those who plan to do a little bit more in the capital while on their Warsaw trip besides watching the games and partying in the streets afterwards, the capital is Poland’s centre of culture.
It’s interesting to note that the entire place was pretty much flattened during World War II, and ever since the city and its inhabitants have been in a constant process of replacing that which was lost. That pace was unfortunately relatively slow during most of the 20th century, however the pace accelerated at a rapid pace after 1989. In the present day, the city is populated with so many cranes and construction sites that you may have the feeling that you’re in a place like Panama City.
One part of the city that many Euro 2012 visitors will surely make contact with is the thriving club and music scene. While the schedule for festivals might be a bit thrown by the European Cup, you can rest assured that the plethora of clubs, pubs and bars will be more than welcoming to their foreign customers.
Keep in mind that this is also where you’ll find some of the best museums in the country, the Warsaw Rising Museum for instance, is a new standard for engaging, interactive exhibitions, and that standard is raised even higher thanks to the museums dedicated to Chopin and Jewish history.
The Royal Castle should also be on your list of things to see, a former Mazovian stronghold, is actually a copy of the original that was unfortunately blown up by the Nazis, however it is a very well-made copy, totally worthy of a visit.
Even the Old Town was rebuilt from the ground up, it took about twenty years, and the aim was to restore the appearance of the area in its best time. It should be noted that every authentic architectural fragment found in the remaining rubble was used during the restoration.
